the uss wisconsin. this is a world war ii battleship. it's docked there. this is the venue where mitt romney makes it really official, even though the campaign announced paul ryan, the wisconsin congressman will be his running made. we'll take a quick break and be right back. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter.

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try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. all right. take a look at this. these are live pictures from norfolk, virginia. the "uss wisconsin" battleship in the background.

it's the back drop for mitt romney making his dramatic announcement that paul ryan, the chairman of the house budget committee will in fact be his vice presidential running mate. our own cnn contributor is here, he wrote a fascinating piece about paul ryan not that long ago, just the other day. what made i decide to write that article? did you think that mitt romney was going pick paul ryan as his running mate? >> no. i mean, i knew he was on the short list. he was obvious up and coming republican, you did a piece about him a year ago. he's i have important republican in washington. the whole theory was, this is a guy who arguably had ideal logical influence than anyone else. the question from romney, is he going to run away from it or embrace it? obviously he's going to embrace it. >> we want to see some pictures, tell us, you spent quality time

in jamesville, wisconsin. this is his, the prom king. he was elected class president, the class president is also the prom king. this is him with the prom queen. >> he did not end up marrying her? >> no, i did not. i tweeted this out last night. one of his classmates said i remember paul, he's a great guy. and this next one we'll show, she told some of the back story. this is paul ryan's senior class survey, this is where all of the seniors vote on the various awards, and paul ryan was awarded biggest brown noser. >> really? >> one of his classmates tweeted, well, you have to understand the context. it was because he was very popular and almost a kidding thing, almost an affectionate thing. paul ryan's life changed in high school. his father died when he was 16 years old and he was the person

that discovered the body. >> gloria spent some quality time talking to paul ryan. >> i spoke a lot of quality time. >> but you spoke to paul ryan about this personal history that he had with his dad. let's play this little clip for our viewers. >> you mentioned that your father died at a very young age, 55, of a heart attack. and you were 16 years old. >> uh-huh. >> and that affected you. >> oh, gosh, yes. absolutely. >> can you talk about that a little? >> i grew up really fast. i questioned a lot of things in life at the time. i basically came to the conclusion when something like that happens, it was sudden, we didn't expect it to happen. you either sink or you swim. i decided to swim. >> how has that affected you in your life? you're young, people say your father died -- are you in a hurry, is that in the back of your head? >> it does, definitely lizzing your dad at a young age, gives you, i guess a sense of

mortality, i suppose. what it does, it means every day is really important, family is so important, i want to be a good dad to my kids, a good husband to my wife and time is of the essence to fix these problems. i'm not somebody that wants to get reelected and reelected. i want to fix these problems. if you're a budget person like i am, you can see we have a dangerous road ahead of us. we will be much better off if we fix our problems now on our own terms and our own time line than if we let these circumstances slip away from us. life is precious, america is amazing. let's keep it that way. >> that's a fascinating interview. you really got him to open up a little bit. >> he actually was just this young kid at 15. and his mother was away. and he went into the bedroom to wake his father, so he was actually the person who discovered his father dead. his mother had to go back to

school to learn a skill. their grandmother who had alzheimer's, moved in with them at a time. it was a very difficult time for a teenager, you know. as he says, it made him in a hurry. also made him a fitness buff irk should say. he does something called, and maybe you guys all know about it, because i'm sure you do it. p90 x. which is a huge workout thing he does. he leads members of the house in the gym on this incredible workout every day. they're all kind of hooked on it. he's somebodita is really into fitness. >> i figured you were doing that -- >> i'm doing p90y. maybe he's doing the p90 x. we'll talk about how this might shape the electoral map.

mitt romney is in virginia, that's the "uss wisconsin". the battleship is from wisconsin, wow, what a coincidence. whether it's showing competitors' rates or striving to be number one, we're always up for a little competition. zap! [ sparking ] now, that's progressive. ♪ [ camera clicks ] ♪ it's hard to resist the craveable nature of a nature valley sweet & salty nut bar.

and these are the live pictures, we're showing from nor folk, virginia. paul ryan will be the vice presidential running mate to mitt romney. the announcement coming up in a little more than an hour or so for now. you'll hear directly from mitt romney about 45 minutes or so ago made it official. they sent out an announcement that it is in fact paul ryan. how will all of this affect the critical electoral college map?

john king is at the magic wall with a closer look. wisconsin, one of the battleground states out there. >> this is the 2008 map. i want to start here. as you look, i want to show you, no secret. look right here. look at this area in the middle of the country, industrial midwest. all blue. let's go back in time to 2004 when president bush carried it. look at difference. president bush won ohio, indiana and iowa. the republicans know they have to win some of these states, especially ohio, but they have to do better than they did in 2008. go to 2010. look at the republicans races, look at the gains they had in this area of the country including wisconsin. you have the big obama win in 2008. a better history for george w. bush. look at this. the most erecent elections, statewide elections in 2010 they

did quite well. just for the sake of going forward in the race for president, if you look at wisconsin, it was a blowout, not even close. some of these states were a bit closer, why paul ryan? jansville, southern part of the state. but he's well known across the state from his budget plan. this is the key test. he's never run or run statewide. here's the latest poll. 51% to 45%. if you go across the midwest. most of the the states in this ballpark, a little closer in ohio, romney campaign is making a bet. they saw the republican energy there, they are making a bet they can take this state away from president obama and complicate his math by picking paul ryan. let's go to the midwest. that's why we had pawlenty, from minnesota, portman from ohio. this map here, look through this.

this is not our official prediction, when they look at it, they know this part of the country will be critical when it comes to the election now just 86 days away if my math is correct. >> interesting the three finalists not all from the midwest. tim pawlenty, the two-term governor, and rob portman, senator from ohio. one thing paul ryan does bring, he went to college in ohio. miami university of ohio. he does have an ohio connection as well. ohio will be critical. we know no republican has not won the white house without carrying ohio. there's another key state. we're talking about virginia. this event is taking place in norfolk, virginia. i don't know if you got the 2008 virginia numbers up there. but president obama carried virginia. he wants to carry it desperately this time as well. he needs to do well not only in northern virginia but southern virginia, around norfolk he has

to do well there if he has a chance. >> he did well in that area. barack obama carried it well. african-american population he won that quite well. norfolk city, go out to the virginia beach area. john mccain won it. if you go to the map. virginia is absolutely critical. i want to make this go away to see it. republicans look at the map and say this is how mitt romney has to win. they call it the 3-2-1 strategy. they have to win the three republican states carried by president obama in 2008. virginia, north carolina and indiana. given the history in the last 100 years or so. three first then two. florida and ohio. if mitt romney can win those five, then he needs one more. now you're making the bet, paul ryan can help them not only in wisconsin but they looked at pawlenty, portman, they looked at ryan. they're thinking they look at the map, they need to win ohio,

they want to contest michigan. they think they can take wisconsin away. they made the calculation paul ryan is the guy. they want to send in small communities, guys that work with their hands, to win the vote. if i take away the scribbles, president obama winning big. mitt romney hoping that paul ryan can make a couple of these blue states red. >> and that recent poll in virginia did have president obama slightly ahead of mitt romney. let's take another quick break. john, stand by, everyone stand by. these are live pictures from norfolk, in the battle ground, a world war ii battleship. it's docked there. when we come back we're going to learn a lot more about paul ryan, not only a politician, a father, a son. but we're going to learn he's also a fisherman. stand by. an airline has planes... and people. and the planes can seem the same

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we're a about to learn a lot more about ryan, the presidential running mate affirm year or so began sat down with candy crowley and they spoke about personal issues, stuff that is directly impacting his life. >> we noted that you're a bow hunter, a skier and a fisherman. we want to focus in on that last part. have you explained to us what noodling is. >> i haven't explained to you, but i do find myself explaining to a lot of people. my wife is from southern oklahoma. down there in southern oklahoma they have a sport where during spawning season for catfish you go along the river banks. we do this in lake texoma on the oklahoma-texas border. you put your hand in the hole where the catfish is spawning,

they bite down on your hand and you pull the catfish out of the hole. you're basically catching catfish by hand. it's really exhilarating, really fun. we try to get down there during the season to cat catfish, they are delicious. >> you catch the catfish with your hand and, what, throw it on the bank. >> you put it under your arm. they have a side thing that can sting u there's a certain technique to walk it up to the boat or whatever you have. it's really fun. >> he's clearly an outdoorsman. you're from missouri, do you do a lot of noodling yourself. >> i don't do noodling. he thought i would know about it because i'm from the midwest. it's the first i heard about it. the whole idea throws me. another thing getting to know him, huge led zeppelin fan. he's actually young to be a led

zeppelin fan but that's who he likes. he originally wanted to be a dr. there's doctors in his family. then he got into chemistry and didn't like it. then he wanted professional skiers and freestyle and his mother got panicked. he got a job in economics. skiing or economics. do you ever regret that. yeah, sometimes. >> he also -- he is this outdoorsman who hunts elk with a bow and arrow. that's unique. i thought noodling was thinking, now it's something else. >> getting your hand bit off by a catfish. >> he's a real fitness buff, p96 exercise group he leads among house republicans is something else. i believe, at least when i interviewed him last summer, he actually bunks in his office in the house. >> he sleeps in his apartment. >> he sleeps in his office in the house that way he can get up and go to the gym. >> he goes home every weekend.

>> he goes home every weekend. he sleeps in his office like a lot of house members do. >> stand by. we're going to take a quick break. we've got live pictures coming in. you see from the "uss wisconsin" in norfolk, virginia. paul ryan will be announced as mitt romney's running mate. that will take place in about one hour. we'll set the scene for you. much more of the breaking news coverage coming up right after this. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge.

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i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we're following the breaking news in the presidential race. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world.

mitt romney getting ready to publicly announce the biggest decision of his campaign so far. his new running mate. that will be congressman paul ryan, chairman of the house budget committee. the romney campaign has issued a written statement calling the romney-ryan ticket america's comeback team. many conservatives are certainly cheering this decision as a bold move by romney that will help energize the base and show voters that romney is really serious about economic change. the two men will appear together for the first time as running mates in norfolk, virginia with the "uss wisconsin." the old battleship as a backdrop. then they will begin a bus tour that will take them toward the republican national convention in tampa. that begins in about three weeks. we'll bring you mitt romney's announcement live. we're standing by for that from norfolk, virginia. let's bring in our own jim acosta on the scene in norfolk for us now. you're there.

that crowd is getting a bigger and bigger. folks are showing up to hear history unfold. >> that's right, wolf. i just got confirmation from a senior romney adviser this is not earth shattering. it's obviously a given. paul ryan will be here for the announcement later on this morning. we can also report a new twitter handle has been set up for the wisconsin congressman. it is now @paulryanvp. the romney campaign is starting to lay the groundwork for the vice presidential pick. getting to the methodology, rational for why they settled on paul ryan, it's interesting. i had a conversation with a senior romney adviser a couple of weeks ago. i was asking him about these questions about bain capital that they are hammering the gop contender on. he said to me at that time. this race will be about big ideas, big contrast.